Weeks after, black dresses collided withyellow sun as adults buzzeddiscussing one of their own,lines of worry etching into skin,the presence of absence lingering.I stood aside with the half-orphaned daughter;feet planted, body swaying,staring at fruit salad rotting in the heat.I could not dislodge the stinger,so I murmured The stinging will stop…

EREMOPHOBIA: fear of being alone

Mother Nature, we are drama queens.Bring me rain—I yearn for the renewal of baptism.

Anna Paikert writes fiction, essays, and poetry. Her prose has been published in Red Weather. Although she lives in Brooklyn, NY, she wishes that she lived in nature. If she were an animal in the forest, she would be an elk because she likes to roam through North America's western woodlands contemplating her next meal. Anna hopes to use creative writing to help people with different needs. Visit her website.